U.S. patent number 4,624,176 [Application Number 06/720,683] was granted by the patent office on 1986-11-25 for air vent with floating closure.
Invention is credited to Wayne Steinke.
United States Patent |
4,624,176 |
Steinke |
November 25, 1986 |
Air vent with floating closure
Abstract
An air vent for a dryer or the like in which the air vent is
located outside of the building and has a light weight valve member
which rests upon the end of a pipe leading to the blower outlet.
Normally this light weight closure is effective to close off the
end of the pipe and prevent the entrance of cold air into the pipe.
When the blower is turned on, the light weight valve member floats
upwardly and permits air to pass out through various openings. The
vent includes a housing which encloses the light weight valve
member and the upper portion of the pipe against which the valve
member seats. The valve member may be of spherical form. The
housing has a cover which may be either spaced from the housing to
permit air to pass out between the cover and the housing, or fitted
tightly to the top of the housing so that all of the air leaving
the blower has to pass downwardly between the pipe and the
housing.
Inventors: |
Steinke; Wayne (Hope, ND) |
Family
ID: |
24894904 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/720,683 |
Filed: |
April 8, 1985 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
454/359;
137/533.11 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24F
13/10 (20130101); F24F 11/745 (20180101); Y10T
137/791 (20150401) |
Current International
Class: |
F24F
11/04 (20060101); F24F 13/10 (20060101); F23J
013/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;98/79,85,116,119,122
;137/533.11 ;34/235 ;248/65 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Joyce; Harold
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Kinney & Lange
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An air vent designed to be located outside of a building and to
be connected through a wall of the building to an air blower
located within the building, said vent comprising:
a housing designed to be secured to a wall of a building in closely
spaced relation thereto and with the housing disposed substantially
vertically;
a cylindrical pipe designed to be connected to an air blower and
extending into said housing and having a cross-sectional area less
than the interior cross-sectional area of the housing, said pipe
terminating at an upper open end in a flat circular surface
perpendicular to the axis of the pipe;
a plurality of spaced radial ribs secured to the pipe and the lower
portion of the housing for securing the pipe within the housing
with the axis of the pipe generally parallel to the axis of the
housing so that when the housing is mounted vertically the upper
flat circular surface at the open upper end of the pipe will be
disposed generally horizontally, said spaced ribs providing
unobstructed passages therebetween for allowing air to pass
downwardly therebetween;
a light weight member having a cross-sectional area at least as
great as that of the pipe but less than the cross-sectional area of
the housing so that when the housing is vertical the light weight
member normally rests on the flat circular upper end of the pipe to
close such upper end but is free to move upwardly due to the air
pressure when the air blower is operated to allow the air to pass
downwardly between the radial ribs;
a cover secured to said housing at the upper end of the housing,
said cover having a downturned flange secured snugly to the housing
to prevent the entry of rain or other foreign matter into the
housing; and
bracket means secured to the vent for securing the housing to a
wall of a building in spaced relation thereto with the housing
substantially vertical.
2. The air vent of claim 1 in which said housing is cylindrical and
in which the pipe is secured concentrically within the housing.
3. The air vent of claim 1 in which the light weight member is a
spherical ball having a diameter greater than that of the pipe.
4. The air vent of claim 1 in which the pipe has a diameter of 4
inches and the housing has an internal diameter of approximately 6
inches.
5. The air vent of claim 3 in which the distance between the upper
end of the pipe and the cover is substantially greater than the
diameter of the ball to allow the ball to move upwardly out of
engagement with the upper end of the pipe.
6. The air vent of claim 3 in which the spherical ball has a weight
of between 2 ounces and 3 ounces.
7. The air vent of claim 1 in which the light weight member is made
of a low density plastic.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
A closure for an externally located air vent, such as is used with
clothes dryers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Where it is necessary to vent to the outside the output of an air
blower located inside of a building, a problem arises in securing
adequate closure of the vent when the blower is not operating. The
customary way of doing this is to provide a pivoted vane which
drops by gravity to a closed position as soon as the operation of
the blower is stopped. The difficulty with such an arrangement is
that various foreign matter tends to accumulate on the outlet of
the vent so as to prevent complete closure of the vent. This is
particularly true in the case of a clothes dryer where, despite
lint guards, an appreciable amount of lint is driven out through
the air vent and tends to accumulate on the outlet of the vent.
Such lint also enters the pivotal support of the vane to hinder its
closing. This is very serious in connection with cold climates,
since it permits cold air to pass from the outside into the
apparatus with the blower and hence out to the room.
The Wexler U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,945 shows an air vent of the type in
which there is a pivoted vane. In this case, a magnet is provided
to prevent the valve from moving to an open position when the wind
is blowing. While the arrangement of the Wexler patent undoubtedly
takes care of a situation in which there is a slight differential
pressure due to the wind blowing, it does not insure the closing of
the vent valve. In other words, if the pivot pins become clogged
with lint or if the end of the pipe against which the vane seats
become clogged with lint, the vane will never seat in the first
place, regardless of the magnet.
In a somewhat related field, the Lebahn U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,896
shows a vent arrangement for a freezer cabinet in which provision
is made for guarding against pressure building up in the cabinet or
a vacuum being formed. Where pressure builds up, there is a light
weight ball which rests upon a valve seat and which is raised when
the pressure builds up to relieve the pressure. This is not
concerned, however, with the same problem as that of applicant's,
in which there is an outside vent.
The Klein U.S. Pat. No. 2,730,943 shows another arrangement of a
swinging vane for a clothes dryer. Here small openings are provided
in the vane to permit warm air to flow out through the bleed
openings to melt any ice. This is intended to take care of a
situation in which the swinging vane freezes closed. This still
does not, of course, take care of the situation of foreign matter
accumulating on the edge of the vent or on the pivotal support of
the vane.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is concerned with an arrangement in which
instead of using a swinging valve in the vent, a light weight
floating valve member is employed. There is an outer housing
designed to be secured to the wall of a building and a cylindrical
pipe designed to be connected to an air blower and extending into
the housing. The floating member normally rests on the top of the
pipe and prevents cold air from coming into the pipe and hence down
into the equipment in the house with the blower. Whenever the
blower is turned on, however, the floating member rises upwardly to
permit the escape of air. To further prevent cold air from
entering, the housing is provided with a suitable covering which
may be spaced from the upper end of the housing or may be closed.
The means for supporting the pipe within the housing has openings
therethrough to allow air to pass downwardly through the
openings.
When the light weight floating valve member is away from the end of
the pipe due to the blower being in operation, at least some of the
air passes downwardly through the openings of this supporting
means. Where the cover engages the top of the housing, all of the
air passes down through these openings.
The floating valve member may be in the form of a spherical ball
formed of some light weight plastic. In such a case, the ball
member has a diameter greater than that of the pipe but less than
that of the housing. In a typical case, the pipe has a diameter of
four inches, and the housing has a diameter of approximately six
inches.
Means are provided in connection with my device for mounting the
housing on the exterior wall of a building.
The means for securing the pipe within the housing can take the
form of a plurality of spaced ribs, the spaces between the ribs
constituting the openings through the securing means. These ribs
may be radially extending ribs.
Further features of the invention will be apparent from a
consideration of the accompanying specification, claims and
drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the improved vent and a dryer,
the blower outlet of which is connected to the improved vent. In
the drawing, a portion of the wall and the adjacent ground is cut
away to show the path of the vent pipe;
FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 2--2 of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of
FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a modified form in
which a cover is tightly secured to the top of the housing and
completely closes the same.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 is used to
indicate the wall of a building, the exterior of which has
conventional siding 11. Located inside of the building is an
appliance 12 with an air blower therein (not shown). The appliance
12 may be a conventional clothes dryer in which the warm, moist air
is driven out through an outlet 13 at the rear of the dryer. A vent
pipe 14 is connected in a suitable manner to the blower outlet 13
and extends upwardly and through an opening in the wall 10. An
elbow 15 is secured in a conventional manner to the vent pipe. This
elbow 15 is in turn connected in any suitable manner to a pipe 16
forming a part of the improved air vent of the present
invention.
The pipe 16 is supported within a tubular housing 19 by a plurality
of radially extending ribs 20, 21 and 22, (best shown in FIG. 3)
each of which have inner and outer flanges secured to the housing
19 and the pipe 16 in any suitable manner, as by welding or by a
suitable adhesive. The supporting ribs 20, 21, and 22 are spaced
apart to provide openings 23, 24 and 25 between the pipe 16 and the
housing 19. As will be presently explained, these provide passages
for air coming from the dryer 12. The housing 19, which may be of
cylindrical cross-section as shown in FIG. 3, is secured to the
outer wall 11 of the building in any suitable manner, as by
brackets 26, which are fastened to the housing 19 in any suitable
manner, such as by a suitable adhesive. These brackets are fastened
at their inner end to the wall of the building with any suitable
fastening means, such as screws.
It will be noted that the upper end of pipe 16 is cut off at its
upper end perpendicularly to the axis of the pipe to form a flat,
circular surface 26 at the top. Resting upon this flat, circular
surface is a light weight valve member 27, which is shown
specifically as a spherical ball. The ball may be formed of a low
density plastic. In a typical case, the ball will have a weight of
between two ounces and three ounces. Normally, the ball rests upon
the cylindrical surface 26 at the top of pipe 16. In this position,
it effectively closes off the top of the pipe and prevents any air
from entering through the vent pipe 14 into the dryer 12. When,
however, the blower in the dryer is turned on, the ball 27 will
float upwardly, for example, to the dotted line position shown in
FIG. 2 to permit the escape of air.
Normally, the housing 19 is provided with a cover 29. In the form
shown in FIG. 2, the cover has a diameter somewhat greater than
that of the housing 19 and is supported from the housing by ribs 30
and 31 which provide openings therebetween through which air can
flow. The cover 29 is provided with a downwardly extending flange
32.
When the blower is turned on to cause the valve member 27 to raise
from its seat 26 at the upper end of pipe 16, air can pass
outwardly through the pipe. In the form shown in FIG. 2, the air
goes both upwardly and downwardly. The air going upwardly, as shown
by dotted line arrows adjacent the dotted line position of the
valve 27, passes upwardly through the openings between the ribs 30
and 31 as shown by arrows 34. Similarly, air flows downwardly
through the openings 23, 24 and 25, as indicated by the arrows
35.
As soon as the dryer is stopped, the ball 27 drops by gravity onto
engagement with the seat 26. With this arrangement, the
accumulation of any lint has no effect upon the seating of the ball
27. In the first place, it is very difficult for lint to be
retained on the edge 26 of the pipe 21. One of the ways in which
the closing of the ordinary swinging valve is prevented by lint, is
that the lint tends to not only get over the end of the pipe
against which the vane swings, but also gets into the pivot pins
thus impeding the dropping of the vane valve. With the present
arrangement, there are no pivotal connections and the light weight
valve 27 simply floats up when the air is turned on and drops back
by gravity when the air is turned off. In this way, it is always
assured that the valve will firmly seat on the upper end of the
pipe 16.
The flange 32 of cover 29 guards against the entrance of rain or
other foreign matter into the housing 19. The only way that rain
could enter into the housing would be to have such a strong wind
that it would be forced upwardly between the ribs 30 and 31. This
is highly unlikely.
MODIFICATION OF FIG. 4
The modification of FIG. 4 is basically the same as that of FIG. 2
with the one exception that the cover 40 closes off the top of the
housing 19. It is provided with a down-turned flange 41 which is of
the same internal diameter as the external diameter of the housing
19 so that the cover fits firmly onto the housing. If desired, the
cover 40 may be secured to the housing in any suitable manner, such
as by a suitable adhesive.
With the arrangement of FIG. 4, all of the air travels downwardly,
as shown by the arrows 35. None of it travels upwardly. The
arrangement of FIG. 4 has the advantage not only of being simpler
to construct, but also of securely guarding against the entrance of
any foreign matter into the top of housing 19. Furthermore, as cold
air tends to travel downwardly, the entrance of cold air into the
housing 19 is further guarded against. Most of the air has to come
in from the bottom of housing 19 and then down through pipes 15 and
16. This, of course, is largely prevented by the ball 27 seated on
top of pipe 16.
CONCLUSION
It will be seen that I have provided an air vent having a closure
which will always operate regardless of any accumulation of lint or
other foreign matter. In fact, the construction is one which tends
to avoid accumulation of any lint. The arrangement is very simple
and can be readily fabricated.
While I have shown certain specific embodiments of my invention, it
is to be understood that this is only for purposes of illustration
and that my invention is limited solely by the scope of the
appended claims.
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